


Reflections

by windstar127



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-07
Updated: 2013-02-07
Packaged: 2017-11-28 12:52:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/674599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windstar127/pseuds/windstar127
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shirogane Naoto, now older and wiser, faces her Shadow again.</p><p>Spoilers for Persona x Detective.  Mostly headcanon for what happens the book ends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reflections

Shirogane Naoto saw her Shadow every time she looked into the mirror. It was taller now, and older, but then again, so was she. A three pieces suit woven from mist and darkness replaced the oversized labcoat it once wore. The golden silk tie around its neck matched the unsettling golden gleam of its eyes. It wore its hair long, past its waist as opposed to just touching the shoulders like she wore hers.

It spoke to her, sometimes, in quiet haunting whispers, when she was unsure of where her path led and if she had, in the end, made the right choice.

_What happened to you, my dear Detective Prince? Look at you, all grown up. A Shadow Operative, Kirijo's hound, going deeper into the darkness that is the mind of humanity than any of your friends dared._

_Would they still recognize you? Would they still trust you?_

_You work for the enemy now, a creature of the shadows and in the shadows. And for what?_

She ignored it, as she always did, and slipped her evoker into the holster at her hip and her revolver into the one at her shoulder before adjusting the straps.

_For a woman who betrayed you. Who used you to serve her ends. Who murdered innocents and used you as her accomplice. She would shed no tears for you were you in her place._

_You tilt at windmills, Detective Prince, and you know this as well as I. For I am you, and you are me. I speak the truths that you dare not speak and give voice to the doubts you dare to hide._

_Why do you seek to save her when you know, in your heart of hearts, that she deserves to die?_

She pulled the sleek grey jacket off its hanger and shrugged it on. Then she opened the briefcase on her bed to check its contents one last time. A sheaf of papers, signed and sealed, that was the final product of two long years' work. Freedom. For the person she would give her life for. For Aoi Touko. She snapped the lid shut, the sound loud and crisp like a gun being fired, and turned to confront her Shadow.

"Because I love her," she said, dark blue eyes blazing with fierce passion, "and that is reason enough. I do not seek to save her. I _will_ save her. You do not frighten me, nor do you shake my resolve. Perhaps one day I will fall prey to your petty temptations, but that day is not today. So begone."

The Shadow laughed a silent laugh, golden eyes sparkling with mirth.

_As you wish, Detective Prince._

Her Shadowed reflection flickered and wavered as it faded in the mists, and when the mists cleared, it was gone. In its place was a woman (or a man, she could never tell), dressed in a tunic of midnight black cut in the style of generals of old with silver epaulets and buttons and trim, crisp white trousers, and knee high black boots polished to a reflective sheen. A gleaming saber sat at its hip, and long dark hair flowed out from behind an intricately carved silver mask. It drew its sword and saluted her.

"Come, Yamato Amatsu Mikaboshi," she placed her hand against the mirror and felt the rush of heady power that always came with her Persona's appearance. Then her reflection was hers again.

"We have work to do."


End file.
